The problem of rampant and readily available fake identification cards, more particularly, driver licenses/passports, has caused many retailers to incur fines and face the loss of tobacco and liquor licenses, and has even subjected them to other forms of civil and criminal liability. Over a period of time, various attempts have been made to prevent or detect the use of fake identification cards, but not with a great deal of success.
The use of driver licenses and passports has expanded over the years to serve as identification for various applications. Examples of such applications include the purchase of alcohol, tobacco or lottery products, as well as for entrance to venues (e.g., gambling in casinos, off-track betting, movie theaters) and other user definable events (e.g., entrance into bars and nightclubs and other establishments where alcoholic beverages are served or sold). All of these businesses have a minimum age requirement for the purchase of a product at the point of transaction or for ingress into an establishment. A driver license and/or passport is typically a document used to provide age identification, and many types of age verification may be commonly accomplished in a relatively quick manner based on the identity document. There is a need to easily determine an identity document's authenticity so that an application having an age requirement (e.g., purchase of an age restricted product) is satisfied (e.g., at the time of purchase) in a convenient manner.